Automatic cotton tramper



Feb. 18, 1930. w, w s 1,747,654

AUTOMATIC COTTON TRAMPER Filed May 24, 1928 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 William 17. W1. Z5021 Quota mad Feb. 18, 1930. w. D.WILSON 1,747,654

' AUTOMATIC COTTON TRAMPER Filed Hay 24, 1928 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 William 17- Wilfiuzz 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 ll... A Ell/ll! I)! I. A I I Feb. 18, 1930. w. D. WILSON AUTOMATIC COTTON TRAMPER Filed May 24, 1928 s gwuemto'o Hill iam 17 Ni Z5011.

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fwwMM Patented Feb. 18, 1930 WILLIAM DORSETT WILSON, OF MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE AUTOMATIC COTTON TBAMPER Application fil ed May 24, 1928. Serial No. 280,217.

This invention relates to new and useful improvements in presses generally and more particularly to improvements in cotton presses or trampers.

One object of the present invention is to provide an improved means and method of mounting the racks, commonly used inconton trampers, in order to eliminate all side thrust on the plunger rods which reciprocate the tramperblock. 1

Another object of the invention is to provide means, operating in timed relation to the plunger rod and tramper block, to feed cotton from the folderhopper only where the traniper block is elevated above the press box.

Other objects of the invention will become apparent as the detailed description thereof proceeds. In the drawings Fig. 1 is a front elevation of my improved cotton traniper with parts of the framework thereof broken away to show details of construction;

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the improved tramper, with parts broken away and sectioned to show details of construction Fig 3 is a horizontal section taken on the line 33 of Fig. 2; Fig. 4 is a vertical section taken on line 44 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary plan view of the parts shown below the line 5-5 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary side elevation of the V construction shown in Fig. 5;

Fig. 7 is a fragmentary detail of brake mechanism for' stopping the operation of the cotton feed from the folder; Fig. 8 is a vertical transverse section taken on the line 88 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 9 is a vertical section taken on line 9-9 of Fig. 10; I

Fig. 10 is a side elevationof a modified form of plunger and rack mechanism for reeiprocating the tramper block; and

Fig. 11 is a fragmentary detail of one of the elements shown in Figs. 9 and 10. a

The invention comprises a tramper block 1 having brackets 2 and 3 spaced apart and bolted thereto to receive and be bolted in turn to the ends of plungers 4 and 5. The plungers 4 and 5 are mounted to reciprocate vertically in guideways formed in standards '6 and '7, each, of which has guide flanges 8 and 9', (see Fig. 5) formed thereon to form said guideways. I y The plunger-s 4 and 5 are held spaced. apart by spacer rods 8 and 9, respectively, to slide snugly in said guideways; and, these rods serve as pivots for links 10 and 11, 12 and13, to the free ends of which the rack supporting plates 14 and 15 are pivoted.

The plates 14 and 15 have rack'members 16 secured thereto; and these members have their ends held in proper spaced relation by outer plates 17 and 18. This type of rack bar itself is common in the art. In this case, however, the raokis supported in sucha manner as to eliminate side thrust on the plungers, and to swing bodily from one side to the other of an operating pinion without requiring any unnecessary space to accommodate its swinging movements.

To reciprocate the plungers 4 and 5, a pair of hardened steel pinions l9fand 20, in en-' gagement with the respective rack member's, are fixed on a shaft 21, (see Fig. 4) which-is rotated by means of a large worm gear centrally fixed to the shaft 21 and meshing with a worm 22 fixed on a driving shaft 23. Fast and loose pulleys 24 and 25, respectively are mounted in the usual manner on shaft 23 to be operated by a shiftable belt 26.

In order to shift belt 26 from one pulley to the other, a rod 27 is slidablymounted in brackets 28 and 29, fixed to standard 6 (Fig- 2), and has arms 30 and 31 fixed theretoto engage opposite edges of belt 26. A lever 32, fulcrumed intermediate its ends on a bracket 33 fixed to a side 34 of the tramper framework, has its end pivoted to one end of the belt shifter rod .27 to move the belt 26 from one of said pulleys to the other.

A sector 35 having notches 36 and 37 extends from said bracket 33 and is adapted to cooperate with a look bar 38 slidable through a bracket 39, to lock the lever 32 with the belt shifting arms 30 and 31 in position to hold the belt 26 on either of the pulleys 25 or 26 as desired.

The locking bar 38 is operated by a bell end of the arm of lever 43 remote from shoe 42 to the lever 32, a series of holes 46 being provided in lever 32 to receive one end of rod 45 and provide for adjustment of the brake mechanism. V

It will be apparent from Fig. 5 that when lever 32 is moved to shift the belt 26 fromthe loose pulley on to the pulley 24, the rod operates on the bent arm of lever 43 to remove the brake shoe 42 from the tight pulley 24. It will also be apparent that when lever 32 is moved in the opposite direction, the brake shoe 42 will be moved into contact with the tight pulley 24 as soon as the belt 26 is shifted on to the loose pulley 25.

The pulleys 25 and 26 are mounted on the shaft 23, which is suitably journalled in the gear casing 47. This gear casing 47 is recessed in its top edges to form a bearing for the shaft 21 which carries pinions 19 and 20 and the worm gear 48, which with the worm 22 acts as reducing gearing to transform the rotary movement of shaft 23 into vertical reciprocation of the rack bars. A cover 49, re-

' ce'ssed to fit over shaft- 21 and complete the v; bearings therefor, is provided with a flange 50 adapted to seat on and be bolted to a flange 51 formed on the top edge of casing 47.

, The plungers 4-and 5 are channel irons, and at their upper ends have stop lugs-52 and 53 secured thereto in' position to contact with stop screws 54 and 55, respectively, adjustable in bracket plates 56 and 57, and held in adjusted positions by lock nuts 58 and 59, respectively. These screws 54 and contact with lugs 52 and 53 at the lower limit of travel of plungers 4 and 5 to hold the rack I bars in position to bemoved by pinions 19 and 20 to opposite sides of the rack bar.

Mounted to reciprocate vertically in channel guides 60 and 61, (Fig. 1) is a door 62,

fixed at its bottom end to the tramper block 1, for closing and opening a port 63 at the end of a hopper 64 to which in turn is connected a cotton feed chute 65.

In order to feed the cotton from the hopper 64, a feed device. 66 is rotatably mounted in said hopper on bearings 67 (only one of which is shown) adjustable in brackets 68, (only one of which is shown). A. shaft 69 rotatable in said bearings, has a number of blades or paddles 70, 71 and 72 which are secured radially to shaft 69, and are adapted when the shaft 69 is rotated to feed cotton from chute into the press box. 7

In order to prevent operation of the cotton feed device66 when the port 63 is closed, and to operate said device only when said port is open, the shaft 69 extends through the end of hopper 64, and has a sprocket wheel 73 fixed thereto. A sprocket chain 74 connects said wheel 73 to a sprocket wheel 75.

The sprocket wheel 75 is fixedly secured to one end of a shaft 76 which is rotatably mounted on bearings formed in standards 77 and 78, bolted to a supporting base 79 which is in turn bolted to the frame members 80 and 81 extending horizontally from the tramper as a whole. A drive shaft 82 is journaledin standards 83 and 84 bolted to the supporting base 79 and extends at right angles to the shaft 76. Upon the end of the shaft 82 an .iron friction conical disk 85 is secured, and is adapted to engage a similar coacting paper friction disk 86 slidably mounted on the shaft 7 6.

The paper friction disk 86 has an annularly grooved boss 87 centrally secured thereto, and a lever 88 fulcrumed on a pivot 89 fixed to the supporting base 79 has one end thereof bifurcated and engaged in the groove of said boss 87 to move the paper friction disk 86 into and out of contact with the drive disk 85 when the said lever 88 is swung, about its pivot 89. A braking member 90 is disposed at the rear of the disk 86 and is adapted to stop rotation of said disk 86 when the latter is moved by lever 88 back into'contact with said member.

In order to swing the lever 88 about its pivot 89 only when the tramper block is above the hopper port 63. the said lever 88 is pivot-ally connected to the bifurcated end 91 of a push rod 92. which at its other end is" provided with a bifurcated fitting 93 having an antifriction roller 94 pivotally mounted between the tines thereof.

Inorder to operate the push rod 92 intermittently, the plunger 4 has fixed to the bottom portion thereof a T-shaped plate 95 bevelled at its upper end 96 to engage the roller 94 as the tramper block moves upwardly. The T-shaped plate is of such length that it engages the roller 94 as the plunger moves the tramper block upwardly to clear the cotton feeding portion 63. This upward movement of the plunger 4 and plate 95 forces the push rod away from the face of the standard 6, and moves the lever 88 in such manner as to move the paper friction disk 86 into frictional contact with the iron friction disk 85, which contact sets up rotation of the shaft 76 and, through the sprocket wheels 75 and 73 and sprocket chain 74. causes rotation of the fan bladed cotton feed member 66 to feed cotton from the folder into the press box 97 below the tramper block (see Fig. 1).

As the plunger 4 moves downwardly with the tramper block it carries the blade 95 with it, and when the tramper block moves the door 62 to close the cotton feed port 63 and when the blade 95 moves out of contact with the roller 94;, the spring 98 secured at one end to the framework and at its other end to the push rod 92, pulls the push rod inwardly toward the plunger 4 and operates the lever 88 to move the paper friction disk 86 out of driven contact with the iron friction disk 85 and into braking contact with the brake member 90.

It will be understood of course, that the paper friction disk 86 is keyed on to the shaft 76 to slide on said shaft and rotate the shaft when the disks 85 and 86 are in contact.

It will be apparent from the preceding description that the cotton feeding apparatus can only be operated'when the tramper block is raised above the aperture 63 of the folder hopper 6 1.

In operation, when the'belt 26 is moved onto the tight pulley 24 the speed reducing gearing rotates the gears 19 and 20, and this rotation of said gearing moves the rack bars, and with them the plungers 4 and 5, either up or down, according to the side of the rack bars meshed with the pinions. At the limit of the upward movement of the plunger the weight of the plunger retains the rack bars in engagement with the pinions 19 and 20, and the continued rotation of the pinion brings the rack bars across the pinion shaft 21 so that the pinions engage the other side of said rack bars to move the plungers downwardly. At the end of the downward stroke of the plunger the lugs 52 and 53 contact with the stop screws 54 and 55; and in this lower limit position, continued rotation of the gears 19 and 20 swings the rack bars on their plunger stops 52 and 53 to cause the opposite sides of the rack bars to be engaged by said pinions and cause upward movement of the plunger.

It will be noted especially from Fig. 8 of the drawings that the links 10 and 11 are of such length as to retain the rack bars always in engagement with the pinions 19 and 20, regardless of the direction of movement of the plunger, and always parallel to the straight edges of the plungers on which they are mounted.

A modified form of the rack bar is shown in Figs. 9, 10 and 11. The tramper block 1 and plungers 4 and 5, spacer rods 9 and 8, and thestop members 52 and 53 are identical with the corresponding members shown in Fig. 1 of the drawing. The method. of mounting the rack bars on the plungers 4 and 5 is different, as the links 10, 11, 12 and 13 are omitted. The rack bars 98 and 99 have their plates 100 and 101 provided at their ends with rollers 102 and 103 adapted to slide in guiding recesses 104 and 105 formed in blocks 106 and 107 respectively spaced apart and bolted on the plungers-4 and 5.

The guiding recesses are of such length that as one side or the other of the rack bar is engaged by the pinion 19 or 20, as the case may be, the rollers 102 and 103 are stopped by the ends 108 or 109 and held parallel in this position to the straight sides of the plunger rods.

The rack bars in the modifications of the cotton tramper illustrated in this case are constantly vertical as distinguished from many prior art plungers in which the rack bars swing from one side to the other in the manner of a lever swinging on the rack pinions as a fulcrum. This novel construction eliminates the danger resulting from a swinging rack bar and also saves space required for operation of the tramper and eliminates substantially all side thrusts on the plunger.

I claim A cotton tramper including a framework, a plunger mounted'to reciprocate in said framework, links connected to opposite ends of said plungers, a rack bar pivotally connected to the free ends of said links, a pinion engageable with said rack bar and operable by continuous rotation in one direction, to

reciprocate said plunger and to move said a rack bar laterally of said plunger to prevent side thrust thereon.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

WILLIAM DORSETT WILSON. 

